Friday, February 23, 2007

Thursday, March 15th - ARTEL's BIRTHDAY, we are coming up on our 1 year anniversary. We will celebrate on March 14, right after our rehearsal. This year it will be just us, as we are focused intensely on getting ready for all upcoming events.

NO GOGOL-MOGOL TeaRoom Salon till May - we are busy devising, performing around town and traveling to San Fran.We would enjoy seeing our audiences coming to our shows around town.

Saturday March 17th 1PM - BUTOH SURGE AGAINST THE WAR PARADE. ARTEL is joining Corpus Delicti and friends for the parade. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO COME! More info on Corpus Delicti is at www.corpusbutoh.org. Information on our Calendar.

Corpus Delicti at the Parade

Monday March 19, 10:30PM - ARTEL will perform a composition based on "Where the Wild Things Are" at NightHawks Salon, Bootleg Theatre. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ATTEND. Further details on our Calendar.

Friday and Saturday April 6th ,7th 8:30PM - ARTEL will be a part of the curated evening at the Highways Performance Space with an Excerpt from a work-in-progress, We Play Devil's Advocate (Variation #50), based on Life & Times of Mikhail Bulgakov. Further details on our Calendar.

Saturday, Sunday, April 21, 22nd - ARTEL is performing in San Francisco at the Traveling Jewish Theatre a work-in-progress We Play Devil's Advocate (Variation #50), based on Life & Times of Mikhail Bulgakov as part of the Ensemble Theatre Festival - The FURY Factory. Further details on our Calendar.

Saturday, May 12th - ARTEL is performing at a Fundraiser for the Little Red School House in Hollywood.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Russian Pancake Week in 2007 is February 12-February 18. And our third Gogol-Mogol is turning into a Miniture Carnival, as we are celebrating Russian Maslenitsa on February 18, Forgivness Sunday, bringing a touch of Mardi-Gras, a taste of Brazilian Carnivale, and a spectacle of a Venitian Masquerade - Russian ancient style, with bears, pancakes, games and performances, culminating in the burning of Madame Maslenitsa, a scarecrow effigy of the winter!

Wow, where to begin - it was a FULL month, new trainings, Slava Polunin, Onofrio Colucci, Old New Year, and a trip to the East Coast for Bryan and Olya with a wonderful visit to the Double Edge Theatre.

M. Chekhov workshop with Robert was short and effective, very inspiring and useful for our process. Well, how could it not be, Misha was a wizzard, and so are we, wizzards in the making.

Commedia with John Achorn is god-sent, coupled with a visit of Slava's Snowshow to LA (most of us saw the show at least twice) and Slava's company, we've been goofing off, buffoning, clowning and laughing our bellies off. Life is good, ladies and gents!

Old New Year... what can we tell ya, it was a RIOT!!! Over 400 guests on the COLDEST DAY in LA HISTORY (it was freezing) gathered to party like it's 2099.

We performed inside and outside, dipped into rituals, literally. We actually had a pool of cold water for an ancient ceremony of throwing water at midnight out of the old pots and pans). We burned old X-mas trees to keep warm, and danced and sang the night away, till 4am.

A Trip to Double Edge was memorable. Yes, America has a living theatre! It's live, and people live there, and they live doing theatre. Beautiful farm on 105 acres of sprawling New England land, with rolling hills and a jewel of a pond - is their home. The training and performing facilities are a dream for any physical theatre group. We spent about an hour talking with Matthew Glassman, managing director and an actor, and another 3 looking at the archives - performance tapes, photographs, reviews, etc. Rich imaginations and generous hearts reside at the Farm!